Trends in the Outsourcing of Domestic Work and Childcare in the Netherlands: Compositional or Behavioral Change?

Changes in the composition of households -- especially the growing number of dual earners and singles -- are often assumed to be associated with an increase in domestic outsourcing. In this article, trends in the outsourcing of household tasks (employing a domestic help and eating out) and the use of child daycare are analyzed with Dutch data (TBO 1980-2000, AVO 1983-1999). As it turns out, the observed increase over the past few decades in the outsourcing of household tasks can be explained by compositional changes. The supply of outsourcing services has not always grown accordingly. Trends in outsourcing are more than the total sum of individual demand factors. An example is the use of domestic help, which shows a net decrease. Our findings suggest that own domestic production has become more efficient, which has led to a reduction in the demand for outsourcing. The increase in the use of daycare for children can be explained as a general behavioral change, indicative of a shift in societal values concerning childcare. Parents are more inclined to hire childcare, irrespective of their personal characteristics. No systematic evidence was found for micro-level behavioral changes in outsourcing.